Abstract

This study investigates the dynamics of pyrene degradation rates, microbial communities, and functional gene copy numbers during the incubation of pyrene-spiked soils. Spiking pyrene to the soil was found to have negligible effects on the bacterial community present. Our results demonstrated that there was a signi ﬁ cant difference in nidA gene copy numbers between sampling dates in QZ soil. Mycobacterium 16S rDNA clone libraries showed that more than 90% mycobacteria detected were closely related to fast- growing PAH-degrading Mycobacterium in pyrene-spiked soil, while other sequences related to slow-growing Mycobacterium were only detected in the control soil. It is suggested that nidA gene copy number and fast-growing PAH-degrading Mycobacterium could be used as indicators to predict pyrene contamination and its degradation activity in soils.